“The Scottish Government is finally listening to the Greens and other advocates of animal welfare, and I welcome the many positive proposals in the Minister’s statement and hope that it marks a new phase for this Government. It shows that Green pressure works.

“However, a number of key areas were missing from the minister's statement including dealing with live exports and welfare concerns related to farm animal transport, which a TV documentary brought to greater public attention last year. Consumers of Scottish produce need assurances that animals are treated with care and respect, and Greens will keep up the pressure on this issue."

Alison Johnstone MSP said:

"Many people believe fox-hunting was banned in Scotland more than a decade ago. The truth is that legislation was more loophole than ban, and we now know at least some of those loopholes will be closed. When we see the Scottish Government’s final proposals I am sure the Greens will push them to go further, and I would hope to get Parliament’s support for the kind of comprehensive ban on fox-hunting that the public expect.

"Across a wide range of animal welfare issues, Scotland has been failing for a generation. Some of those failings will now be addressed, but we will need to go further. Greens are determined that Scotland must have an animal welfare framework we can all be proud of.”

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New routes for the export of live animals from Scotland for slaughter overseas must prompt Scottish Ministers to rethink their stance and rule out the cruel practice once and for all, according to Mark Ruskell MSP, Food & Farming spokesperson for the Scottish Greens.

The SNP’s Rural Economy Secretary Fergus Ewing is under pressure to rethink his support for cruel exports of live farm animals for overseas slaughter, after an opinion poll commissioned by the Scottish Greens showed three out of four Scots want the practice banned.

Highlands and Islands Green MSP John Finnie has called on the Scottish Government to urgently introduce a moratorium on the culling of mountain hares in the Highlands as new figures reveal the number of mountain hares in the eastern Highlands has dropped by more than 99 per cent since 1954.

Mr Finnie said:

“Scottish Ministers have repeatedly stated that they do not support mass culling of mountain hares, yet it is happening all the same.